Embrace the Suck!

thewanderwomanrv
Jan 14, 2022
3 min read

I want to keep it real, so you don’t think this lifestyle is all sunshine and butterflies. Sometimes it sucks. When things go wrong you have one of two choices; give up and melt down or embrace the suck. Of course, for me it’s a little of both. First I melt down, then I embrace the suck.

So, I got to Oliver Lee State Park near Alamogorda NM and found my campsite. It didn’t look too unlevel but looks can be deceiving. It threw my auto levelers out of whack and I couldn’t get the error to clear. I tried and tried and finally gave up when it started getting dark. I got it level enough to live with using my tongue jack and pressed on. The next day I called Lippert, the manufacturer, and spent an hour on the phone with them trying to clear the error so I could level the trailer. Nope! Wasn’t happening. He said it sounded like an electrical problem, but I didn’t know how to use a multi-meter and even if I did, I’d need a second person to run the jacks while checking the connections. I called around to several dealers and no one could get me in before March! At this point I had a wee bit of a meltdown. I'd driven from Georgia to Montana to buy this trailer specifically because it had auto levelers. I did not want to have to deal with manually placing blocks under the wheels and guessing how many I’d need to get it level. I just wanted to push a button and boom it’s done. Yes, I'm spoiled.

The view from my campsite was spectacular though!

There was nothing I could do at this point so I decided to press on and visit White Sands National Park.

The park has about 275 square miles of white gypsum sand dunes. It is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world.

You can hike the dunes and some people bring sleds, inner tubes or discs to slide down them.

It was fun to watch but I didn't feel like having sand everywhere!

The way they clear the roads makes it looks like snow is piled up along the sides. It was a pretty cool place to visit. We came here when I was 7 years old but didn't really remember it.

I wonder what creature made these tracks? Pristine sand dune.

From there I headed toward Tucson. I stayed at my first Harvest Host, Shakespeare Ghost Town in Lordsburg NM. I actually did a pretty decent job of manually leveling the trailer. Thank you YouTube for the instructions!

There were 3 other campers staying there. One thing about this lifestyle is you meet people from all walks of life and beliefs. I enjoyed sitting around the campfire talking with them. Keith gave us a tour of the town and told some interesting stories. If you’re ever in the Lordsburg area take the tour. It’s $10 per person and helps fund the restorations.

Our guide Keith and the old Saloon

Saloon on the left and the dining room/hanging room (Grant House) on the right. Since there are no trees around, they would use the rafters in Grant House for hangings. I don't think I'd want to eat there.